Valentine's Day
by The Moose Warren
Summary: It's Valentine's Day in the Walter Manor, and everything is not as The Spine thinks it should be. Steam Powered Giraffe fic.


Valentine's Day:

The Spine had never worried about the specific day of February the 14th. Love, after all, was the main theme of the holiday and that was a very ridiculous notion for one as logical as himself. What was he to do with love? It meant nothing to him, seeing as it was a feeling he could never fully grasp. Therefore, he usually spent the day doing what he did every other day of the year: Keeping his brothers out of trouble and practicing for any upcoming concert.

This year, however, fate appeared to have different plans for him.

It started out innocently enough. He entered the kitchen to find most of his family already inhabiting it. That, of course, meant that chaos was already ensuing. Rabbit was obsessing over something, pen scribbling furiously on what The Spine hoped wasn't the tablecloth, and Hatchworth was investigating the newest set of pawprints on the ceiling that cropped up everywhere in the manor.

"Good morning, everyone," He greeted, tipping his fedora in the gentlemanly way Pappy had taught him so many years ago. His greeting was answered with a nod from Hatchworth and a sudden shriek from Rabbit.

"The Spine! I wantcha' to read this!" He exclaimed, crossing the distance between them in a second and shoving a crinkled piece of paper in The Spine's face. "I-I-It's urgent!"

The Spine let a sigh escape, steam rising into the air, and took the paper from his brother, holding it out so he could focus on it. It was a letter, he realised, which read as follows:

_Dear Miss Paige,_

_Roses are red,_

_And violets are blue,_

_My name is Rabbit,_

_Hello, to you!_

_Your name is Paige,_

_It makes me think of romance,_

_Now, won't you please,_

_Give this Rabbit a chance?_

_I'm running out of things that rhyme,_

_But I just want to say,_

_Do you think you could,_

_Be mine on Valentine's Day?_

_Yours,_

_Rabbit._

He had to look it over twice just to make sure he had read it right. This was a love letter to Rabbit's personal Walter Girl, Paige.

"Rabbit..?" He started, trying to gather his thoughts together, "Is this...what I think it is?"

A quizzical look shaped Rabbit's faceplates, a look that The Spine knew all too well. "Well, if you're th-th-thinkin' it's a quesadilla, you'd be wrong, but if ya' think it's a poem for Miss Paige, then you'd be all kinds o' right!" He answered, jumping a bit in place, looking as ecstatic as ever.

The Spine sighed once again as he put a hand on his brother's shoulder, patting it in his signature style and handing the poem back to him.

"Rabbit, we've been over this. Miss Paige is a human and you are not. A relationship of any kind is simply not possible between you two." He hated being the person to crush Rabbit's spirits, but it absolutely had to be done. "I'm sorry, buddy."

A loud _ahem _resounded throughout the kitchen, drawing every bot's attention to the doorless entrance where Walter Girl Paige stood with Walter Girl Brianna not too far behind.

"Excuse me, The Spine, but I didn't realise you made decisions for me now. Must have been my mistake," Paige said, her nonchalant words and smile not matching the challenging stare she shot at the much taller silver automaton.

The Spine held her stare for a moment before backing down, knowing there was no point in arguing this early in the morning, "I aplogise, Miss Paige, that was not my intention-"

"Good," Paige interrupted, brushing past him and standing in front of the copper 'bot with the mismatched optics that had always seemed so charming to her, "Rabbit, I would love to read whatever it is you've written on that paper of yours," She gave that sweet smile that was meant only for Rabbit that made steam leave his vents faster than ever.

"Y-y-yes, Miss Paige," He muttered, hand shaking as he handed the forever crumpled slip of paper into her petite hands. She opened it and began reading, the most lovely blush colouring her pale cheeks in a shade that Rabbit immediately made into his favourite colour.

"Oh, Rabbit..." She murmured, looking up from the paper and into the photoreceptors of her automaton. Without warning, she had jumped upon him, arms wrapping around a copper chasis and lips reaching an oxydized faceplate, placing a chaste kiss upon it. "Yes! I _will_ be your valentine, you crazy, wonderful Rabbit!" She squealed, pulling him in for another embrace. Rabbit's dazed expression matched that of everyone else in the room except for Hatchworth, who was still pondering the existence of the strange pawprints on the ceiling.

The Spine couldn't believe what he was seeing. His brother and a human...it just couldn't be real. Miss Paige simply couldn't be serious.

A tug on his sleeve broke him out of his stupour. He looked down to see Brianna at his side, a quirky smile pulling at the edges of her lips. "We should give them some privacy, don't you think?" She whispered, already pulling on his arm. He nodded silently and followed her, still trying to wrap his thoughts around what was happening.

She led him to a nearby couch and sat him down, settling in next to him immediately after, that little smile still with her. "Well..." She started, inspecting her black nails, "That was certainly something. Paige is going to have her hands full for a while, that's for sure," She shot him a glance and the smile disappeared.

"I just...do not understand, Miss Brianna. How could something like that ever work between Miss Paige and my brother?" Spine murmured, his form slumped in an unusual display of weakness. Brianna didn't like seeing The Spine like that, a shadow of his usual dapper and collected self. She was unsure of what to do, having never been faced with a situation like the one she was in now.

"Look," She started, struggling to get her words to come across right and placing a hand on the automaton's back, "I'll admit that whatever those two have between them is..._different, _and there's no way to know what the ending result will be, but that's true for everything in life. Trial and error is the only way people learn...and maybe that's just what those two are doing. Learning." She bit her lip, slightly embarassed that she had given such a long speech. However, she could feel the truth in her own words. Who was to say that a relationship between a human and an automaton wouldn't work in the first place?

The Spine had to grudgingly admit that Brianna had a good point. He did not see a good ending, especially with the looming fate of Paige's mortality, but he would not interfere with them. His brother would end up hurting in the end, that was for sure, but for now...it was important that Rabbit was happy.

_In any case, if Rabbit can have a relationship with a human...,_ he thought to himself, straightening his long spine and giving Brianna that devilish smile of his, _so can I._ Brianna was, as he had come to realise a long time ago, quite beautiful.

"Miss Brianna," He murmured, "I have seen the error of my ways, and a thought has occured to me. I seem to remember you mentioning a new litter of kittens down at the animal shelter. Would you, perhaps, like to join me in picking one out as a playmate for Marshmallow?" He stood and offered his hand to her, just as suave and gentlemanly as ever.

The look on Brianna's face spoke volumes. Without hesitation, she took the gloved hand offered to her and stood, onyx hair bouncing a bit.

"It's a date,"


End file.
